Housing Slowdown Imperils Fannie Freddie Wind Down

Put another nail in the coffin of President Obama's efforts to wind down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Fannie and Freddie story updated from 1:04 pm to include statement from BlackRock in eighth paragraph.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Put another nail in the coffin of President Obama's efforts to wind down Fannie Mae (FNMA) and Freddie Mac (FMCC).

Housing numbers released by the U.S. Census Bureau Wednesday showed a 14.5% drop in new home sales in March, far more than analysts estimated. While some pointed to the cold winter, a more commonly cited culprit was higher prices.

The number is just the latest in a string of discouraging housing data, and it comes less than a week before a scheduled vote on legislation introduced by Sens. Tim Johnson (D, SD) and Mike Crapo (R., ID) aimed at winding down Fannie and Freddie, a stated goal of President Obama.

Housing experts realize winding down the government sponsored entities will make it harder for many Americans to buy homes, one of many reasons that goal is thought difficult to impossible to achieve even without the recent weak sales data.

But that data is further underscoring the issue, something one lobbyist believes is making Obama Administration housing officials especially tense ahead of Tuesday's scheduled vote, which may end up being delayed due to a lack of support for the bill.

But the likelihood that Johnson Crapo will make it more difficult for Americans to buy homes is just one of several reasons the bill looks doomed.

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